3573-002 Studies in Religion: Introduction to Judaism
Instructor: Rabbi Geoffrey Dennis
This survey course examines the practices, themes and movements of Judaism, emphasizing the impact of
modernity on these rubrics. The student successfully completing this course will be familiar with the
concepts of Judaism and issues of current importance.
Course Requirements: final, midterm, a 4-6 page book review, and class participation.
The two tests will have equal weight. The final is a non-cumulative test covering only the second half of the course.
A 70 overall is a passing grade.
Office hours: I am in my study at Congregation Kol Ami most days. Monday mornings and Wednesday afternoons
are my ideal times for appointments. I have room 320-E to meet on campus. Your best plan would be to schedule
an appointment. The number to my study is 972-539-1938.
Assigned readings:
Cohen & Mendes-Flohr. Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought. Free Press
Jacobs, L. A Jewish Theology. Behrman House
Jacobs, L. The Book of Jewish Practice
A reader assembled by the instructor.
Recommended:
The TaNaKH, Jewish Publication Society
1) What is a Jew? What is Judaism? The problem of defining Jewishness.
CJRT: "Community" Convert and Conversion," "Judaism"
Jacobs: Chapter 1
2) Israelite and Biblical Religion. A History from @2nd Millennium BCE to 517 BCE
Reader: Biblical and cognate texts on creation.
CJRT: "History"
3) The Torah - Content, composition, transmission
CJRT: "Biblical Criticism"
4) The Prophets - Content, composition, and transmission
CJRT: "Prophecy," "Jerusalem," "The Holy Spirit'
Jacobs: Chapter 14
5) The Writings - Content composition, and transmission
CJRT: "Apocalypse,"
6) The Emergence of Judaism I. History from the Persian to the Roman Period.
CJRT: "Rabbi and Teacher"
Reader: Mishna Avot 1.1
7) The Emergence of Judaism II. From text to Tradition.
CJRT: "Oral Law" "Sacred Text and Canon"
BJP: Torah Study pp. 4-12
8) Rubrics of Jewish Theology: God
CJRT: "God," "Atheism," "Creation," "Idolatry," "Redemption,"
Jacobs: Chapter 2, 3, 9
9) Rubrics of Jewish Theology: Humanity
CJRT: "Humanism "Freewill," "Imago Dei"
BJP: Ethics pp. 19-27
Jacobs: Chapter 21
10) Rubrics of Jewish Theology: Israel
CJRT: "Chosen People," " People Israel," "Christianity," "Islam"
Jacobs: Chapter 19
11) Rubrics of Jewish Theology: Mitzvah and Halakhah
CJRT: "HaIakhah," "Commandment," "Talmud"
Jacobs: Chapter 15
12) Rubrics of Jewish Theology: Aggadah and Mysticism
CURT. "Aggadah," "Midrash," "Mysticism"
Reader: Zohar on the nature of Torah
13) Institutions of Jewish Life: The Synagogue
CJRT: "A Kingdom of Priests"
Reader: 8.1. Brachot 5a
Jacobs: Chapter 13
14) Institutions of Jewish Life: Prayer and the Prayer Book
CJRT: "Prayer" "Liturgy"
BJP: Rituals pp. 28-40; Prayers pp. 129-138
Test: Classes 1-14
15) Institution of Jewish Life: Home, Food and Sex.
CJRT: "Eros: Sex and Body," "Family," "Women"
BJP: Tzedakah pp. 12-18; Kashrut 66-73
16) Institutions of Jewish Life: the Life Cycle - Rituals and Meaning
CJRT: "Covenant," Gesture and Symbol," "Death,"
BJP: Life cycle pp. 41-66
17) Institutions of Jewish Life: The Afterlife Cycle
CJRT: Eschatology," "Messianism," "Resurrection,"
Jacobs: Chapter 22, 23
18) Institutions of Jewish Life: The Calendar, its history and structure.
BJP: pp. 107-128
19) Institutions of Jewish Life: Shabbat
CJRT: "Rest"
BJP: Shabbat pp. 74-78
Jacobs: Chapter 7
20) Institutions of Jewish Life: The Fall/Winter Holidays
BJP: Festivals - pp.98-118
21) Institutions of Jewish Life: The Spring/Summer Holidays
BJP: Festivals - pp. 81-106
22) Modernity: The Medieval and Enlightenment Experiences
CJRT: "Enlightenment," "Emancipation," "Providence," "Science"
23) Modernity: Religious Change - Reform Orthodox, and Conservative
CJRT: "Reform Judaism," "Orthodoxy," "Conservative Judaism"
24) Modernity: The New Secular Reality.
CJRT: "Secularism," "Zionism"
25) Modernity: Anti-Semitism
CJRT: "Anti-Judaism and Anti-semitism"
26) Modernity: The Holocaust
CJRT: "Evil," "Holocaust," "Reward and Punishment'
Jacobs: Chapter 17
27) Modernity: The State of Israel, 1945-1995
CURT: "Land of Israel," "Political Theory," "Religion and State," "State of Israel"
28) Modernity: The American Experience I
CJRT: "Reconstructionism"
29) Modernity: The American Experience II
30) World Jewry Today and in the Future
The student successfully completing this course will be familiar with the following concepts and issues:
(1) Issues of Jewish identity and self-definition
(2) A rudimentary outline of Judaism's historic evolution
(3) The three rubrics of Jewish faith: God, Torah and People Israel
(4) The institutions of Jewish life: calendar, home and synagogue
(5) The impact of modernity on Judaism
EVALUATIONS: 100 points will be used to calculate the total grade:
10 points for preparedness in the readings and class participation.
30 points for mid-term consisting of 10 multiple-choice questions and two short essays.
20 points for a book review of a fiction or non-fiction book on a Jewish topic (see below
for the list of approved books).
40 points final, consisting of 30 multiple choice/fifl-in the blank questions
and two short essays
100 total points
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a serious offense. The penalty for plagiarism in this class is an F on the assignment and possibly an F
in the course. The Dean of Students will also be notitied of the offense.
For purposes of this course, plagiarism is defined as:
Work submitted or presented that, in whole or in part, was done by a person other than the student
submitting the work, This includes passages taken from another source without reference to the original
author or a whole work, such as an essay or review, copied from another source.
While it is obvious that scholarly research involves references to ideas data and conclusions of other scholars,
honesty and intellectual integrity requires that such references be clearly acknowledged and noted. A bibliography is
insufficient to establish what parts of a student's work are taken from external sources. References must appear in
the body of the work or in footnotes/endnotes.
If a student desires to submit a work for two courses simultaneously (this course and another course), the student
must obtain the prior agreement of both instructors.
Books for review
Rabbinic Judaism
There We Sat Down: The Story of Classical Judaism in the Period in Which it was Taking Shape, Jacob Neusner
From Politics to Piety: The Emergence of Pharisaic Judaism, Jacob Neusner
A Hidden Revolution: The Pharisees' Search for the Kingdom Within, Ellis Rivkin
From Maccabees to the Mishnah, Shaye J.O. Cohen
As a Driven Leaf, Milton Steinberg (fiction)
Medieval Judaism
Under Crescent and Cross, Mark Cohen
Rashi, Cheim Pearl
The Jews of Spain, Jane Gerber
In the Year 1096, Robert Chazeri
Wine, Women and Death: Hebrew Poetry on the Good Life in Muslim Spain lsmar Schorch,
The Gazelle: Hebrew Poetry on God and Israel
A Journey Toward The Millenium A.B. Yehoshuah (fiction)
Renaissance Judaism
The Jews in the Renaissance, Cecil Roth
Don Isaac Abravaneli Statesman and Philosopher, B. Netanyahu
Safed Spirituality, Lawrence Fine
Dona Grade and the House of Naxos, Cecil Roth
The Memoirs of Gluckel of Hameln
The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon, Richard Zemler (Fiction)
Early Modern Judaism
Abraham Geiger & LiberalJudaism: The Challenge of the 19th Century, Max Weiner
Out of the Ghetto, Jacob Katz
The Rise of Reform Judaism. Gunther Plaut
The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov, A.J. Heschel
The Earth is the Lord's, A.J. Heschet
For the Sake of Heaven, Martin Ruber (fiction)
The Fixer, Bernard Melamed (fiction)
American Jewry
Zion in Amenba, B. Feingold
The East European Jewish Experience in America, Un Hersher, ed.
A Bintel Brief, Isaac Metzker, ed.
The World of our Fathers, Irving Howe
A Voice that Spoke for Justice: The Life and Times of Stephen S. Wise, M. Urofsky
In the Days of Simon Stern, A. Cohen (fiction)
Jew Against Jew, Freidman
The Holocaust
Ordinary Men, Christopher Browning
The Good Old Days, Klee et al.
Days of Sorrow and Pain, Baker
The Last of the Just, Schwarz (fiction)
Night, Eli Weisel (fictionalized memoir)
Contemporary Experience in America and Israel
Jewish Power Goldberg, J.J.,
Jew vs. Jew, Freidman
A People Divided, Jack Wertheime
Holy Days, Liz Harris
Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist J. Halevy
An Orphan in History, Paul Cowen
The Family Markowitz, Allegra Goodman (fiction)
A Little too Close to God: Living in Israel, D. Horowitz
Hard Hats, Hustlers, and Holy Men, Zev Chafetz
O Jerusalem, Collins
City of Many Days, Shoshana Hareven (fiction)
My Michael, Amos Oz (fiction)
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